Although there have been over 1,600 cases of the virus confirmed by health officials in almost all 50 states, every patient save the four reports in Florida contracted the disease either travelling overseas or through sexual transmission.
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The virus has caused Guillain-Barré syndrome in a small number of people in Latin America, which can be triggered by viral assaults on the immune system and ends in muscle weakness. Spread of the virus through blood transfusion and sexual contact have been reported.
“Zika is now here”, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday.
“Right now, it’s accessible to people who are having symptoms”.
Its updated advice says: “Pregnant women should consider postponing non-essential travel to affected areas until after the pregnancy”.
The Zika virus has been associated with a birth defect called microcephaly, which results in children being born with abnormally small heads and brain damage.
Now there is no vaccine for Zika, however, research is underway, health department officials said.
The gentrifying neighborhood is known for bold graffiti-style murals spray-painted across warehouses, art galleries, restaurants and boutiques. But “we don’t expect widespread transmission in the continental United States”, the CDC’s Frieden said. While officials have long predicted mosquitoes in the continental USA would begin spreading Zika this summer, they have also said they expect only isolated clusters of infections.
“We’re being very aggressive at testing people there. we are testing the mosquitoes there, and we spraying to make sure it’s contained”, Scott said, adding that health officials do not think that the transmission was ongoing.
Since February of this year, 11 countries have reported evidence of person-to-person transmission of Zika, “probably via a sexual route”, the World Health Organization added.
The mosquito is found in urban parts of the South. But it doesn’t tolerate cool weather and won’t be found in large numbers outside South Florida after mosquito season peaks in August and September. “The number of cases, the relationship in geography of those cases, how closely linked they are in time, as well as a series of other factors that we will use to determine what recommendations we issue in terms of travel guidance”, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Thursday.
What long-term effects, if any, could the virus have on women planning to get pregnant years from now?
If true, they’re the first documented cases of Zika being transmitted by the insects on the US mainland.
The news comes as many Florida officials, including Governor Rick Scott and Senator Marco Rubio, have pleaded with Congress and President Obama for more funding to fight the potential spread.
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The latest information from state health officials is causing concern for women and those in need of blood in Southwest Florida.
